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Iowa State suspends remainder of 2014 VEISHEA celebration following riots

CANCELLED: After rioting Tuesday night, the rest of the VEISHEA celebration for 2014 has been cancelled by university officials. Photo: Saga Communications/Iowa State University

Iowa State University President Steven Leath announced Wednesday afternoon that the remainder of the school’s VEISHEA celebration would be suspended after rioting on Welch Avenue and Stanton Avenue late Tuesday evening. One student was seriously injured by a falling street lamp. Leath stated that he is disappointed in what happened. He said safety has to be the number one concern.

“I have decided to suspend the remainder of this VEISHEA,” said Leath. All of the scheduled events will end at 5pm Wednesday.

Whether VEISHEA will continue may be decided by a committee that will be formed in the coming weeks. The event has been marred by problems in several years including in 1997 when a man was killed outside of the Adelante fraternity.

When commenting about whether it was students or out of town visitors to blame, Leath said, “It’s Tuesday folks. We used to blame the people from out of town. This time it was us.”

Leath said VEISHEA will be have to be completely overhauled to resemble more of what it used to be when it was a celebration of the various schools of study at the university, or it will be eliminated altogether.

“The problems revolving around alcohol, house parties – these issues have to go away,” said Leath.

So far, two arrests have been made with the public’s assistance after Tuesday night’s riots. Ames Police are asking for more of the public’s help to identify people in the dozens of videos and cell phone photos that have surfaced online after the incidents.